French carmaker Peugeot Citroen is in the process of buying German rival Opel, but fears over job losses in Germany mean Peugeot's boss has been asked for guarantees none will go.
ADVERTISEMENTGermany’s Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries has called in the boss of Peugeot Citroen, Carlos Tavares, to get assurances that the French carmaker will not slash jobs at the three Opel plants in Germany it is taking over..
Peugeot Citroen is in talks to take over General Motor’s troubled European operations, and says it plans an engineering revolution to redevelop Opel’s core models with its own technology.
Peugeot Citroen is especially good at making small cars, and wants to build the next Opel Corsa with the same platform as the Peugeot 308 and Citroen C3 models.
Opel had intended to revamp the Corsa in 2019, leaving the French little time to perfect its replacement. They would prefer to wait until the end of the next model cycle, around 2025 to gain cost savings.
Peugeot Citroen has agreed a price of 2.2 billion euros with GM. The takeover would create a new European car giant capable of challenging Volkswagen.
